A groundbreaking study of Mills alumnae marks its 60th anniversary with the publication of a new book. By Sarah J. Stevenson, MFA ’04 When Ann Markewitz ’60 graduated from Mills, she entered a
women, every 10 years. Subjects were recruited from the Mills
world in which societal expectations for her life revolved around
senior classes of 1958 (65 participants) and 1960 (77) in order to
getting married—to a man, of course—and having children, with
study “creativity, leadership, and plans for the future in modern
career taking a secondary role for most women, even college
young women.” The participants were 97% white and 3% Asian,
graduates. And for a while she went by the book, moving to
largely reflecting the demographic makeup of Mills at the time.
Berkeley with her husband and raising two daughters. After
Organized chronologically, the book takes observations from
reconsidering her identity in midlife, Markewitz ultimately
the five major rounds of data collection and presents them in
married a woman, who she has now been with for 42 years.
“ordinary language,” as Mitchell describes it—from the study’s
It’s a life path that would have been difficult to imagine in her
beginnings looking at creativity and personality in young
youth, but one that has proved deeply fulfilling.
women and how these characteristics affected their choices
Her journey was chronicled through her participation in the
about family and career in midlife, to the effects of personal-
Mills Longitudinal Study, a groundbreaking look at the course
ity on attitudes about retirement and late life purpose. “To our
of women’s lives conducted by Berkeley psychologist Ravenna
great surprise, no one had really ever mapped the adult life
Helson.
course of women,” Mitchell says.
How
groundbreak-
ing was it? In its early days,
We know now that sex and gender have a significant impact
a monograph on the partici-
on the effects of medicine, the course of disease, and our over-
pants—then in their 20s—was
all understanding of physical and mental health. But research
rejected for publication. “The
in the sciences have traditionally been deficient in their atten-
person
[Helson]
tion to, and involvement by, women. Even now, many medical
and said, “Your sample is too
treatments are based on studies conducted on men, or studies
small, but quite honestly, if
that did not account for differences between women and men.
wrote
to
you had 1,000 women in your
Sexism in scientific study has been a longstanding issue. In
study, we wouldn’t publish it,”
the 1930s, Sigmund Freud declared that women stop developing
says Valory Mitchell, who first
psychologically around age 30. Even as psychology came into
became involved in the study
its own as a rigorous academic discipline, there was a pervasive
as a graduate student at UC Berkeley and has now seen it through to the publication of a book. Women on the River of Life: A Fifty-Year Study of Adult Development, by Helson and Mitchell, was published in November 2020, capping off six decades of inquiry with a look back on the many insights the study brought to light—and illuminating an area of research that was, and remains, underexplored. In 1958, Dr. Helson began her decades-long research project tracking the personalities, lives, and careers of Mills alumnae as they changed over time—or didn’t—in one of the only psychological studies of its kind: a longitudinal glimpse into the lives of the same group of 16
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
